A blog about games, the people who play them, and the madness that ensues

Tuesday, 19 February 2013

What's on the painting table then?

It's been quite a while since we visited the old painting table, which despite efforts of a tidy up, is still looking quite cluttered. One of these days I will have to get everyone round for a painting social to try to clear some of the backlog, perhaps if I offered them lunch? There are some talented painters in my immediate gaming circle - I just need to find a way to mobilise them.

Right now, the painting table is covered in GW miniatures. I'm trying to assemble 1000 points of Tyranids for WH40K, although I realise I'm sadly lacking a suitable HQ model - the Genestealer Brood Lord is no longer a recognised HQ choice under the current Codex, but, if Kelvin and I ever get our act together to play some old Rogue Trader, the Brood Lord can stand in for a Patriarch with no problem. Still, these guys are a bit 'samey' to paint, even though I've established a colour scheme and quick paint process that seems to work quite well.

Also on the table are some Bretonnian knights and Lizardman Saurus cavalry for Warhammer. These are largely there for the kids to experiment with when the urge takes them. The knights are good for this, because they have individual colour schemes, so you can push one in the direction of a six year-old and let them go crazy. They will still require a bit of a tidy up and heraldry transfers applied, but some of the first batch are looking quite nice - and suitably random for a feudal host. The Saurus riders are being painted by one of my son's friends - he's doing them one at a time, which I'm sure he'll get bored with, but each to their own!

With my eye still on my Lord of the Rings campaign, which I kicked off last year, I'm putting the finishing touches to Frodo, Sam and Pippin for the next scenario, and further down the line I've got the Barrow Wights (and Tom Bombadil) to paint, for when the hobbits get lost on the Barrow Downs.

Two other projects are moving back onto the table this month. Firstly, my 6mm Carthaginian army, which I've based up for Impetus. I abandoned this because I was finding it quite fiddly to paint them. Some folk assure my that this should not be the case, but I can't understand how anyone manages to paint in this scale if they are painting Napoleonic troops, for example. Ridiculous! Having said that, I'm not sure I'd start any new periods in 28mm, as I find it takes way too long to paint figures for war games in this scale. I simply have not got the time these days. There must be a suitable middle ground between 6mm and 28mm and I'm increasingly coming to consider 15mm / 20mm might be it.

Secondly, I've picked up a copy of the Dux Bellorum rules for Dark Ages battles, which look quite interesting. I've still got my 15mm Picts gathering dust, originally bought for Song of Arthur & Merlin, but am thinking of basing them for Dux instead. The real question is how to base them - Dux is quite base neutral, so it might be possible to mount figures on bases for Impetus, allowing them to be used for these rules as well. The question is whether I'll have enough Picts for such an exercise!

Finally, there's the small matter of my Dystopian Wars steampunk Russian Coalition fleet. This has been unboxed and is in the cleaning / trimming stage before priming. I'm starting off with a relatively conservative fleet, as I find with games of this nature that you really need to get a feel for your army / fleet and the games system before making any additions. It is best to start with a smaller, core force, and then modify according to where you see the short comings. This is short hand for saying I won't be buying any more until the fleet has had its first outing on the high seas!